1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a handle set, and, more particularly, to a push button lock mechanism for a handle set.
2. Description of the Related Art
Locking handle sets, or locksets, have long been available for commercial and home use. Among the most popular for home and small business use are tubular and cylindrical locksets. Tubular locksets are fairly simple in nature, requiring a small number of parts/features, thus providing a sturdy, yet reliable and low cost design. Cylindrical designs are more complex than tubular designs, and are thus more expensive to produce, due to the number of parts/features involved, as well as due to the tolerancing required to maintain a high reliability. Cylindrical locksets, by their nature, are readily adapted for push button locking, in which a person simply pushes a button located at the center of the operator in order to lock the handle set. This convenient method of locking a handle set has been difficult to implement in a tubular lockset design without substantially increasing the number of parts, and hence, the cost of the handle set.
What is needed in the art is a push button lock mechanism for a handle set that has a reduced number of parts.